On Wednesday 11 March in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted by a large majority (482 votes in favour, 108 against and 42 abstentions) a report calling for closer bilateral cooperation with Canada in order to join forces to tackle the current security, geopolitical and trade threats.
“In a world of a war-addicted Russia, an assertive China and increasingly erratic American ally, Canadians and Europeans know full well that the only way to defend our interests (…) is we really work more closely together”, said the rapporteur, Tobias Cremer (S&D, Danish), at a press conference.
The report stresses the need to fully implement the security and defence partnership, complementing NATO’s efforts, notably through initiatives such as SAFE (Security Action for Europe).
It also defends the importance of multilateralism and key institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and calls for closer cooperation in the Arctic, notably to preserve Greenland’s autonomy.
Javier Moreno (S&D, Spanish), rapporteur on EU-Canada cooperation, went into more detail on the provisional application of the CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) over the last nine years. He praised a trade agreement “that works”, offering opportunities to “our small and medium-sized businesses, our farmers, our financial services”, and felt that the initial fears at the time of signing had been allayed.
However, ten Member States have not yet ratified the agreement, which “our Canadian friends don’t understand”, he repeated, calling for full ratification.
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/l4p (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)